HP officially releases the Chromebook 11

HP and Google have now officially announced the latest Chrome OS notebook, the HP Chromebook 11. Based on Samsung's Exynos 5250 dual-core SoC and built around an 11.6-inch IPS display, the new Chromebook 11 definitely aiming to be a decent portable notebook, especially with up to 6 hours of battery life.

HP managed to make a rather light thermal-bonded magnesium frame plastic chassis for the 11.6-inch Chromebook 11 which resulted in quite a low weigh of just above 1kg (2.3lbs). The precise dimensions are set at 29.7x19.1x1.7cm (11.7x7.55x0.7-inches) and it will be available in white or piano black color options with a choice of four different accent colors.

Although it's not as fast as some Intel CPUs in a couple of other Chromebooks, the Samsung Exynos 5250, now known as the Exynos 5 Dual, should provide enough performance for all usual daily tasks that you might want to do on a 11.6-inch notebook with 1366x768 resolution. The rest of the specifications include 2GB of RAM, 16GB of flash storage backed by free 100GB of Google Drive for two years, webcam, two USB 2.0 ports, microUSB port and enough battery to keep it running for up to 6 hours, according to HP. In a rather strange move, Google wanted the speakers below the keyboard and according to early hands-on experiences it appears to be a really good decision.

The most important detail is the price set at US $279 which is pretty much a steal considering that you get a system that can deal with all daily tasks, offers a decent keyboard and 6 hours of battery life. According to HP, it should already be available in the US and the UK while more countries are scheduled to get it in time for holidays.